Archives
- October 2007
- September 2007
- August 2007
- July 2007
- June 2007
- May 2007
- June 2006
- May 2006
- April 2006
- March 2006
- February 2006
- January 2006
- December 2005
- November 2005
- September 2005
- June 2005
- May 2005
- April 2005
- March 2005
- February 2005
- January 2005
- November 2004
- September 2004
- July 2004
- June 2004
- May 2004
- April 2004
- March 2004
- February 2004
Categories
- Vidfest (112)
- Cool Links (1)
- Digital Entertainment (6)
- Interactive Design (1)
- Vidfest 2007 (1)
Micro-mania
August 28th, 2007 posted by Mack
The following guest post is from Mack D. Male, Paramagnus Developments Inc.
Instant messaging is used by millions of people every day, largely because it is simple and efficient. Often times we need to communicate just a small bit of information with someone else, and instant messaging provides us with an easy way to do that. The problem with instant messaging is that reaching large numbers of people is quite difficult - IM is mainly a one-to-one type of communications tool.
That’s where tools like Twitter and Jaiku come in. Some call them “microblogging” or “micromessaging” services, because like blogs they enable a one-to-many kind of publishing model. Like instant messaging however, they are perfect for small bits of information. Twitter actually imposes a limit of 140 characters, which is the length of a text message you might recieve on your mobile phone. You can get hurricane warnings, New York Times headlines, and random ramblings via services like Twitter. New uses are “discovered” almost every day. Services like Twitter continue to grow in popularity, and many other companies like Facebook have built similar functionality right into their products.
So what comes next? As is usually the case with technology, audio and video will follow text. Text is great, but there are plenty of situations when video and/or audio is the ideal way to communicate. The main advantage of audio over text is that you can generally speak a lot faster than you can write. The major advantage of video is the old saying, “a picture is worth a thousand words.” Seeing something in action is quite often far better than reading a description.
Short or micro audio and video messages are even better. They are quick and easy to create, and quick and easy to consume. Another nice property of micro messages is that they don’t require a lot of infrastructure like storage and bandwidth. That means you can download, share, and store them quite easily. You might think of these short text, audio, and video messaging services as “micro-media” services.
Indeed some individuals such as Dave Winer are already using Twitter with audio (Dave created the Twittergram service). A couple of video services for short videos have appeared, including Kyte.tv and Eyejot. And don’t be surprised if a few dozen more micro-media services appear in the next year or so.
All too often we get caught up in the mindset of “more, more, more!” Micro-media services offer us an easy way to embrace the mindset of “less, less, less!” Until everyone starts using them, that is.
